Ore separator



Jan. 22, 1935. w. HILL 1,988,794

ORE SEPARATOR 'Filed Jan; s, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /N V5 N TOR.

6: N I Wm ATTORNEY.

Jan. 22, 1935. w. HILL 1,988,794

ORE SEPARATOR Filed Jan. 3, 1933 2 Sheets$heet 2 IN VEN TOR.

A TTORNE Y- Patented Jan. 22, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 12 Claims.

This invention relates to an ore separator, and more particularly, to an improved ore separator of the centrifugal type. i

7 It is one object of this invention to provide an improved ore separator.

Another object is to provide an apparatus for v recovering ore values having novel means for intermittently removing ore values during the operation of the apparatus.

Another object is to provide an improved apparatus of the centrifugal type wherein a centrifugal bowl is provided with a novel side wall having value retaining means disposed on the inner surfaces thereof, and novel means for removing the values from the retaining means during the operation of the device.

Another object is to provide in an apparatus having the above characteristics, a centrifugal bowl having side walls composed of relatively movable segments and novel means for moving said segments.

A further object is to provide in an apparatus having the above characteristics, novel means for supporting and operating the relative movable segments of the centrifugal bowl so as to insure the proper operation thereof, under all conditions.

A further object is to provide in an apparatus having the above characteristics, a novel centrifugal bowl, the side walls of which are constructed and consist of at least one relative movable segment, and means for moving said segment or segments during the operation of the bowl, so that a continuous supply of material may be fed into the bowl, and the separation of recovered ore values and tailings may be accomplished by continuous operation.

A still further object is to provide in a centrifugal bowl having the above charactertistics, novel relative movable side wall segments and means for shaping the movable segments to conform to the various contours of the inner surface of the bowl during the movements of the segment relative to the adjacent co-operating portion of the side wall of the bowl.

A still further object is to provide an ore separator of the centrifugal type that shall be novel in structure, eflicient in operation, durable, and comparatively inexpensive to manufacture.

The above and other objects will be made apparent throughout the further description of the invention when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to like parts. It is to be distinctly understood that the drawings are not a definition of the invention, but are merely one form of an apparatus illustrating the manner in which the invention may be carried out, the scope of the invention being defined by the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a vertical sectional view of an apparatus embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. 1 having the peripheral cover of the centrifugal bowl removed in order to disclose details of the apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a fragmental sectional view illustrating 4 one form of a detail of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 illustrating a different form of a detail of the invention.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view takenalong the line of V-V of Fig. 6.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along the lines VI-VI of Fig. l.

Fig. '7 is a sectional view taken along the lines VIIVII of Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is a fragmental plan view of a movable section embodying the invention and.

Fig. 9 is a view. similar to Fig. 8 illustrating anotherembodiment of the invention.

In the form shown, the apparatus comprises a supporting structure having a plurality of supporting legs 10, adapted to support an upper body portion 11. Mounted on the body portion 11 there is a pair of coaxially disposed containers and tanks 12 or 13.

These containers 12 and 13 may be mounted on the body portion 11 of the frame structure as shown at 14 and 15 respectively and their respective contents are maintained separated, as by wall 13*. The container 13 is disposed within the container 12 and is of sufficiently reduced size so that the side walls of the containers are spaced apart to form an armular passage-way 16 between the adjacent side walls of the containers. The passageway 16 terminates in a chute or conveyor 17. The upper edge of the container 13 terminates below the upper edge of the container 12, the purpose of which will be hereinafter understood.

A novel bowl represented in its entirety by 18 is mounted within the containers 12 and 13 and is centrlfugally supported on a vertical shaft 19 as shown at 20, the shaft 19 extends downwardly and through the body 11 of the frame and is provided at its lower end with a gear 21, mounted on the frame and supported by one of the legs 10 of the frame is a shaft 22 havin a pinion on its inner end adapted to mesh with the gear 21, the outer end of the shaft 22 is provided with a pulley 23, the latter adapted to be driven by suitable prime mover.

The bowl 18 comprises a rotatable bottom portion or basin 24 and a plurality of side wallsections 25 extending upwardly and outwardly from the bottom 24 and fixed relative to the bottom.

The fixed portions 25 are annularly spaced apart and are adapted to receive therebetween relatively movable belt-like sections 26. The edges of the sections 25 are provided with grooves 27, the latter adapted to receive projections 28 provided on co-operating edges of the movable belt section, so that adjacent edges of the fixed sections and the movable sections overlie to prevent leakage through the juncture thereof. The distance between the adjacent edges of the fixed sections decrease from the top of the section to the bottom thereof. The movable belt section 26 is preferably made of flexible material, such as tough rubber and will readily conform to the various contours of the inner surface of the bowl, and since the distance between the adjacent edges of the fixed sections vary from the top to the bottom this will cause the flexible, movable section 26 to fiex outwardly at its center and inwardly at its edges sufiiciently to conform to the arcs of the various contours presented by the inner surface of the bowl. The inner surfaces of the fixed sections 25 are provided with a number-of pockets, preferably ribs, and as here exemplified are shown as under-cut grooves or ore value retaining means 25, and the movable sections 26 which are of belt form are provided on their outer surface with ribs 51 providing therebetween undercut grooves 27, and these grooves are adapted to oo-operate with the grooves 25' on the fixed sections 25 and form continuous value retaining means around the inner surface of the bowl. The grooves 27* are preferably provided with a back wall 27' of appreciable width between the ribs 51 so as to facilitate the spread of the ribs around the rollers and to avoid packing of the accumulating ore values in an acute angle.

Novel means are provided for supporting and moving the movable sections 28, which means comprises upper and lower rollers 28 and 29 respectively, which rollers have their axes of rotation perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the bowl, and are turnably mounted on the fixed portions of the bowl. The upper rollers 28 are preferably mounted on shafts 31 which are disposed in spaced relation circumferentially of the upper portion of the bowl, and the adjacent ends of the several shafts 31 are connected for simultaneous axial rotation by suitable joint such as a universal connection, as shown at 32, with the exception of one end of the shaft 31', which is provided with suitable gear 34, which gearis adapted to mesh with a gear .38 carried by the upper end of a shaft 37. The drive of the rollers as a train from a single point is exemplary only, and if desired, the train of rollers may be broken, and additional drives included.

The bowl is intended for rotation at a much greater speed than the belt 26, and it is desirable that the rotation of rollers 28 and 29 be geared down to relatively slow movement. For that reason, it is preferred that the belt 26 have intermittent movement.

Novel means are provided for intermittently rotating the shaft 37, which in turn intermittently rotates the rollers 28 by way of the gears 26, 34 and shafts 31, which means comprises a ratchet 39 slidably mounted on the lower body portion 41 of the bowl 18, the ratchet 39 being provided with a roller 42, the latter adapted to contact with a raised portion 43 provided on the stationary portion body 11 of the frame structure so that during the rotations of the bowl the roller will come in contact with the raised portions 43 during each revolution of the bowl, the raised portion 43 operating to lift the ratchet 39, the latter being adapted to turn a ratchet wheel 44 carried on one end of a shaft 45, the shaft 45 being mounted on suitable brackets projecting from the body 41 of the bowl, the other end of the shaft 45 being provided with a worm 46 meshing with and adapted to drive the worm gear 47, the latter being mounted on a stub shaft 48. A gear 49 is provided on the inner end of the shaft 48 and adapted to mesh with the gear 50 carried by the lower end of the shaft 37. It can now be understood that during each revolution of the bowl the roller 42 will come in contact with the raised stationary portion 43 and raise the ratchet 39, which will cause the movable belt sections 26 of the bowl to move a predetermined amount during each revolution. of the bowl, this movement being eifectuated through the rollers 28, shafts 31, gear 34, gear 36, shaft 37, gear 50, gear 49, stub shaft 48, worm gear 47, worm 46, shaft 45 and ratchet 44.

Figures 3, 4, 8 and 9 illustrate difierent forms of the movable belt sections. In Figures 3 and 8 the cm section of the movable belt section 26 is concave-convex in shape and the rollers 28 and 29 present an axially concave surface for receiving the belt section. Since the distance between the adjacent edges of the fixed section vary from the top to the bottom because of the downward convergence of the bowl, it follows that the rollers 28 are slightly longer than rollers 29 and the concave surface of the rollers 28 and 29 vary to conform to the contour of the are of the upper and lower inner surfaces of the bowl.

The belt sections 26 are preferably provided with a supporting surface 50- on which the section 26 is adapted to slide, and these supporting surfaces 50' are shaped to conform to the contour of the inner bowl surface and prevents the section 26 from sagging outwardly during the operation of the bowl.

Figures 4 and 9 illustrate a different embodiment of the belt sections wherein the cross section of the belt is plano-concavo and the upper rollers 28 have an axially straight rolling surface while the bottom rollers 29 are slightly axially concave in order that the belt as it passes over the lower roller may have its face which is radially inward conform to the inner surface of the lower portion of the bowl wall where that wall is circumferentially adjacent the bottom 24. In this case also, the upper roller is slightly longer than. the lower roller for the purpose above stated.

In Figs. 8 and 9 the arrows a, b, and c, d, indicate the radii of the several arcs.

Another very important feature of the invention is that the projections or ribs 51 formed by the under-cut grooves 27* in the movable belt sections are caused to spread apart as they pass over the rollers 29, the preferable direction of belt movement being indicated by arrows e, f. This operates to cause the values lodged in the grooves 27 .to be evacuated freely, to further assist in evacuating the values from the grooves as the latter pass around the underside of the rollers 29, a spray pipe 52 having perforations represented by 53, is adapted to spray water on the grooves as they pass around the rollers 29. The ore values as evacuated are received in the container 13 and pass downwardly and out a suitable chute 55 where they are received for such further distribution as desired.

Since in ore aggregate there is a high percentage of rock and gravel called tailingswhich must be run through a crusher before the concentrate therein may be segregated, there is provided a discharge for tailings over a hood 54 which is disposed circumferentially overlying the upper rim of the bowl, this hood terminating beyond the vertically projected horizontal plane of the inner container 13 and within the outer container 12, so that the discharge of tailings is into the outer container 13, from whence it is suitably disposed of through chute 17. The operation of the device is as follows:

The ore aggregate or other value bearing ore is delivered into the centrifugal bowl 18 by any suitabe and known method and is preferably de-- posited centrally of the bottom 24. This substance is subjected to the centrifugal force of the bowl and since the materials of greatest ore bearing values and particularly ore bearing sand are of suflicient weight that they tend to move outwardly, due to the centrifugal force to which they are subjected by the rotation of the bowl, it will be readily understood that such values in the comminuted material will lodge and thus accumu ate within the under-cut grooves of the bowl and since the bowl wall inclines outwardly .termittently, they are for practical purposes, al-

most continuous in their movement, since the bowl must be rotated with sufficient rapidity to set up a centrifugal force. For this purpose it has been found satisfactory with a bowl of 30 inch top diameter, to rotate the bowl approximately 90 to 100 revolutions per minute and to have the belt move approximately 1/64 to l/32 inch at each revolution, though greater or lesser speed of movement may be desirable according to the ore being treated. As the movable sections are turned about their respective rollers 29, the values are brought downwardly into the chamber or container 13, the rollers 29 operating to cause the projections or ribs 51 to spread apart and give up freely the values, the water spray provided by the water source 52 operating to assist in the further and complete removal of the values. Therefore, the recovery of the continuous supply of values are fed through the chute 55 at the bottom of the container 13, which values are available for such distribution or further treatment as may be required.

There is here provided a method and apparatus for recovering ore values from ore aggregate that is practical and operates to provide a continuous delivery of the values from such ore aggregate. Further, the present apparatus obviates the much dreaded labor of scraping and washing out the ore values from the ore accumulating means in the centrifugal bowl, and it is thought that among other valuable features, the fact that the projections 51, when passing over the rollers 29, spread apart and give up the ore values is a very valuable addition to this particular art. It is well known to the operators of centrifugal machines that the ore packs to such an extent in the ore retaining grooves that the values are very difficult to remove. Also, the present machine is simple in structure, durable, practical and comparatively inexpensive to manufacture.

While I have illustrated and described certain forms of the apparatus for carrying out the invention it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that certain changes, modifications, substitutions, additions and omissions may be made in the structure without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:-

1. An apparatus of the character described, including a bowl adapted for rotation relative to its radial. axis, the wall of said bowl being segmental and including revoluble belt segments having pockets on their inner faces adapted for accumulating ore values therein upon rotation of the bowl, means to rotate said bowl, and means for moving said revoluble belt segments in a direction from top toward the bottom of the bowl, said belt pockets being adapted for automatically progressively evacuating the ore values accumulated in said pockets at a lower position of said pockets relative to the bowl.

2. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a bowl adapted for rotation relative to its radial axis, the inner wall of said bowl including a movable belt revolubly mounted at its lower end beyond the inner confines of the bowl, the face of said belt being'provided with pockets adapted for accumulating ore values therein upon rotation of the bowl; means to rotate said bowl, means to move said belt and the pockets thereon beyond the inner confines of the bowl whereby ore values accumulated in the pockets of the belt may be automatically evacuated therefrom at a lower position of the belt ,beyond the confines of the bowl, said last mentioned means being adapted for moving said belt in a direction from top to ward the bottom of. the bowl.

3. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a bowl adapted for rotation relative to its radial axis, the inner face ofsaid bowl including a movable belt having spaced ribs thereon and adapted for the accumulating therebetween of ore values upon rotation of the bowl; means to rotate said bowl, and means to move, said belt, said ribs being adapted for relative spreading whereby ore values accumulated between the ribs may be freely evacuated.

4. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a bowl adapted for rotation relative to its radial axis, the inner face 01' said bowl ineluding a movable belt having spaced ribs thereon ribs thereon adapted for accumulating ore values therebetween upon rotation of the bowl, means to rotate said bowl and means to rotate said rollers whereby the belt is progressively moved around said rollers, the radially inner face of said belt lying substantially in line with the inner bowl so as to form a part of the bowl wall.

6. An apparatus of the character described, including a bowl adapted for rotation relative to its radial axis and having a concave roller at upper and lower portions, respectively, the lower roller having lesser arc to its concavity than the upper roller, a flexible belt mounted on said rollers and forming a portion of the inner face of said bowl; said belt having spaced ribs thereon adapted for accumulating ore values upon rotation of the bowl, means to rotate said bowl, and means to rotate said rollers whereby the belt is progressively moved around said rollers.

7. An apparatus of the character described, in cluding a bowl adapted for rotation relative to its radial axis, said bowl comprising a bottom basin and segmental side walls extending upwardly and radially outwardly, said side wall having rollers respectively at upper and lower portions thereof, the segments of the side walls including belts mounted on said rollers and having 'pockets thereon adapted for accumulating ore values upon rotation of the bowl, means for rotating said bowl, and means for rotating said rollers whereby the belts may be progressively moved about said rollers, the lower of said rollers being axially concave.

8. An apparatus of the character described, including a bowl adapted for rotation relative to its radial axis, said bowl comprising a bottom basin and a segmental side wall extending up wardly and radially outwardly from the bottom basin, the sidewall including movable segments having pockets on the radially inner face thereof adapted for accumulating ore values therein upon rotation of the bowl, means to rotate said bowl, and means to move said movable segments, the lower end of said movable segments being mounted on a bearing having an arcuate surface beyond the confines of the bowl whereby the pockets are widened for evacuating the accumulated ore values as the pockets pass about said arcuate suriace.

9. An apparatus of the character described, including a bowl adapted for rotation relative to its radial axis, means to rotate said bowl, said bowl comprising a bottom basin and a segmental side wall extending upwardly and radially outwardly from the bottom basin, 8. portion of said segments comprising belts ribbed annularly to the radial axis of the bowl, rollers upon which the belts are mounted, the lower of said rollers having an axially concave face, means to rotate said rollers whereby said belt may be progressively moved, and said bowl at its upper end having a hood over-lying the upper end of the belt adapted to guide overflow from the bowl beyond the confines thereof.

10. An apparatus of 'the character described, including a receptacle, a bowl adapted for rotation relative to its radial axis, means to rotate said bowl, said bowl comprising a bottom basin and a segmental side wall extending upwardly and radially outwardly from the bottom basin, a portion of said segments comprising belts having spaced ribs adapted for accumulation therebetween of ore values upon rotation of the bowl, rollers upon which the belts are mounted, the lower of said rollers having an axially concave face, means progressively to move the radially inner face of the belt downwardly whereby the ribs of the belt are relatively spread when pass ing around the lower roller and thus facilitates the evacuation from between the ribs of the accumulated ore values, the lower portion of said bowl being disposed so that the evacuated accumulation of ore values may be discharged into the aforesaid receptacle, and the upper portion of said bowl being disposed so that overflow from the bowl may be discharged beyond the confines of said receptacle.

11. An apparatus of the character described, including a bowl adapted for rotation relative to its radial axis, means to rotate said bowl, said bowl comprising a bottom and a segmental side wall extending upwardly and radially outwardly from said bottom, a portion of said segments comprising flexible belts ribbed annularly to the radial axis of the bowl, rollers which have concave faces axially and upon which the belts are mounted, means intermittently operative to rotate one of said rollers whereby the belt is intermittently and progressively moved around said roller faces.

12. An apparatus of the character described, including a bowl adapted for rotation relative to its radial axis, the side wall of said bowl comprising a plurality of movable segments and a plurality of fixed segments extending upwardly and outwardly from the bottom of the bowl,-

the movable segments being flexible and having spaced ribs thereon and being mounted on rollers at upper and lower portions of the bowl, said rollers having axially concave faces, the degree of arc of concavity in the lower rollers being greater than in the upper rollers, the adjacent side edges of the respective movable segments and fixed segments having overlapping relation;

means to rotate said bowl, and means to rotate said rollers whereby the movable segments thereon may be progressively moved and the ribs thereon spread as the movable segment passes around a roller.

WILLIAM HILL. 

